A strange xmas...

Day 418:

Merry Christmas! Santa gave me a hangover. So I needed a cure.

But while I ate this delicious bowl of ramen.

My bike was being stolen. Yes, my bike was stolen on Christmas. I never liked that bike, but it still felt like a piece of me was taken. Oh well it's Christmas. Surely somebody needed my bike more than me.

So when I finally made it to work, Boom had gave us these hats. They are awesome! haha.

And at least I got to make some new friends. Yean Hong and Chen Ni came all the way from Malaysia to try Bassanova. There's nothing strange about that!

But afterwards, someone at the restaurant upstairs tried to flush a clam down the toilet. Needless to say, it didn't flush very far and soon our bathroom became a rain forest.

That's when shugarilla got mad and set everyone straight. Whatever you do, you do not want to get shugarilla mad. Trust me.

The night ended with a special visitor who brought me a special gift which made up for all the things that happened on this strange day. Thank you...

An eve to remember...

Day 417:

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Tokyo-to. Not a creature was stirring, not even Yoshikibo.

So off we went to eat at plan b, where they make their own noodles at a place called Syuri.

Okinawa soba is the main attraction, with fine salts in a lightly blended pork stock guaranteeing satisfaction.

"It's good but it's not ramen" said she, so I turned to her and said "I completely agree!"

So off we went with our Kodaimae onigiri in hand, waiting for St. Nick to fly over the land.

At the stroke of midnight we got a visit from a strange man, apparently St. Nick is much skinnier in Japan.

Bearing gifts in the form of sugary sweets, it was time to indulge on a spectacular holiday feast.

As the alcohol flowed Santa began to get brave, but not even rudolph could escape Shuga's slay.

But tonight was a night to party and not a night to fight. Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Merry Christmas Mom!!!

Dimming of lights...

Day 416:

I'm counting down the days. No not until xmas. And no not until new year's. But the days until my best friend leaves Japan for good. In his honor, I went to go eat at his favorite Thai ramen place.

To try his favorite Tom Yum Ramen.

It's a little like pho and a nice change of pace. With just enough spice and an explosion of shrimp, I can tell why he likes it so much.

Then it was time to check out some illumination.

Ahh the beauty of electricity waste.

Wink.

Taco party!!

Thanks DNo!

Microwaveable Sumire ramen!

It's not the same, but I'll take it.

10 more days...

Sweet sesame balls...

Day 415:

Starting the day with a green tea donut is a must!

And on this rather warm winter day, I was in the mood for some tsukemen from Gamushara.

It looked and smelled good.

And it even had a hot-rock in the soup from the beginning. Be sure to remove it before slurping though.

The shoyu-based soup has a very strong hint of ginger and lotus root and there are so many flavors trying to grab attention that it's difficult to really grasp what it's trying to do. The noodles are fantastic, but I will stick to the ramen from now on.

When you ask for soup-wari you get another hot-rock. Whatever you do, don't put it in your mouth.

You know it's a good day when someone drops off some sweet sesame balls for you and your coworkers.

Yeah, it was a good day...

Lulled...

Day 414:

The new issue of SPA! came out today and it featured Bassanova as one of the top 20 ramen shops in the nation. Awesome! And...it was my first ramen chef pose. haha. (*embarrassed*)

So what a better way to celebrate than with some ramen. The Nagi (ラーメン専門店 凪) in Shibuya is somewhat famous.  But is it the best?

They are all different and it's almost impossible to judge them based on these differences, but I'd say I prefer Ikuta-san's sardine based soup rather than this tonkotsu Butao Ramen.

This is a very well done tonkotsu ramen with just enough stink and plenty of creaminess.

But is it kaedama worthy? Not today.

Time to ooze on out.

Blue star!

200 yen big mac!

Basa fries!

I had made a promise to visit Tege-Tege (the bar next to Bassanova) on my day off.

So my friend and I went to go chill with Atsumi-kun and he was surprised that I actually showed up. He only works on Tuesdays and coincidentally I now get every Tuesday off. This could become a trend. And oh yeah....Ladies, he's single.

It was a rather slow night next door with the pouring rain outside so Boom came by to show us his new rain suit that Shuga made. ahahah. It even has a belt!

It was a calm night...